Fritz Lang’s Man Hunt Goes Blu

October 11, 2014 | By

ManHunt1941_poster_mAs more of Fritz Lang’s American films make their way to Blu-ray – Cloak and Dagger (1946) and Scarlet Street (1945) from Kino, Secret Beyond the Door (1947) from Olive, The Big Heat (1953) from Twilight Time, Hangmen Also Die! (1943) from Cohen Media – it makes it tough to ignore the power of this obsessive, dictatorial, brilliant filmmaker who fled Germany after being asked by the Nazis to head UFA, and struggled to work within the Hollywood studio system.

Treated like a God in Germany but regarded as a skilled employee by Hollywood, Lang needed a lengthy period of adjustment and perhaps some lessons as to when to exert his mighty ego, but Man Hunt (1941) marked a perfect fusion of his classic German spy films and contemporary politics.

Based on the 1939 novel Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household, its premise is audacious even by today’s standards: a big game hunter sneaks into Germany to assassinate Hitler. This isn’t a new concept to contemporary audiences – Death of a President (2006) was a faux docu-drama about the assassination of a then-sitting American President George W. Bush, and the comedy The Interview (2014) has two bumbling reporters asked by the CIA to kill North Korea’s Kim Jong-un – but to WWII audiences it must have elicited some striking responses.

I’ve uploaded a review of Twilight Time’s lovely Blu-ray edition, covering the film and the extras ported over from the prior Fox DVD.

Coming shortly: a set of war-themed films from Twilight Time – Paul Greengrass’ Resurrected (1989) and John Irvin’s The Dogs of War (1980).

Currently out in this month’s issue of Rue Morgue magazine: my print interview with composer Fabio Frizzi (The Beyond) regarding his upcoming Frizzi 2 Fulci concert this Halloween at London’s The Barbican with new music. A podcast version of the lengthy interview will follow in early November, but in case you missed my conversation with Frizzi prior to last year’s concert, check out my 2013 podcast.

Cheers,

 

 

Mark R. Hasan, Editor
KQEK.com

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